SOPA

Two leading opponents of SOPA are taking their fight for Internet freedoms to a whole new level. This time a team of bi-partisan lawmakers are offering a Digital Bill of Rights to help ensure that Americans continue to have an open Internet.

A number of SOPA-style anti-piracy amendments to Canadian laws have been introduced by the Canadian Intellectual Property lobby in its report to policymakers. If implemented, the proposals could reshape Canada’s IP policy altogether.

Inspired by fruitful virtual protests against the SOPA and PIPA online piracy bills, Internet activists have united their forces and formed an organization to protect the web from “bad laws and monopolies.”

Even without passing new legislation regulating what Americans can and can’t do on the Web, recently unsealed court records reveal that federal authorities took down a music website for one year without ever filing charges.

“It’s been suggested to me that what I’m doing might be perhaps dangerous,” recalls Nadim Kobeissi. The 21-year-old, frizzy-haired computer programmer is alert and astute when talking to RT, and he suggests that others should be as well.

He revolutionized the world by inventing the World Wide Web. Decades later, though, MIT professor Tim Berners-Lee is warning consumers of his creation against Google and Facebook, as well as the government’s attempts to censor the Internet.

The battle over control of the internet is not just about the freedom of speech, but our global future. It is the choice between a Big Brother and democracy unseen before, insists Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party.

The controversial pan-global anti-piracy agreement, ACTA, may soon be dead in the water. The Member of the European Parliament responsible for monitoring its progress through the European Union says it should be rejected.